Dear All,

we would like to inform you that on 17.04.2024, the Sejm received the government draft law on the protection of whistleblowers (print no. 317). According to the information on the website of the Sejm, the draft was referred to the first reading in committees on 24.04.2024, while the deadline for the submission of the report is set for 20.05.2024 (as of 08.05.2024). Nevertheless, the significantly delayed implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of whistleblowers, which obliged Member States to introduce the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary for its implementation by 17 December 2021, has not gone unnoticed by the European Union institutions.

The effect of the above Polish delay is the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter the CJEU) of 25 April 2024 in case C-147/23 – Commission v Poland (Directive lanceurs d’alerte). The CJEU, deciding on the European Commission’s complaint, ruled that Poland had not taken the necessary measures to implement the provisions of the EU whistleblowers’ directive into its legal system, as a result of which Poland is obliged to pay a lump sum of EUR 7 million and a periodic penalty of EUR 40,000 per day from the date of the CJEU judgment. The above may affect the acceleration of the current work on the draft law on the protection of whistleblowers.

In this context, we would like to remind you that according to the current wording of the draft law on the protection of whistleblowers, any legal entity for the benefit of which, as at 1 January or 1 July of a given year, at least 50 persons perform paid work (as well as local government entities and, regardless of the number of persons employed – entities that perform activities in the areas of services, products and financial markets, anti-money laundering and counteracting the financing of terrorism, transport safety and environmental protection) will be obliged to implement an internal procedure for reporting violations of the law and taking follow-up actions.  Thus, these entities should consider, given the complexity and new nature of the whistleblower protection regulation, taking the first steps now to prepare the necessary procedures.

We therefore encourage you to contact our Law Firm. We will keep you informed of any further legislative developments concerning the government’s draft law on the protection of whistleblowers!